Outside the castle, the shouts of people and the crackling of the bonfire filled the air as lords and knights continued their search for the wicked cat known as "Cheeko."

Barrett raised the cat with both arms, his bright blue eyes locking with the cat's dark, slitted ones. With a serious expression, he asked, "Are they looking for you?"

The cat nodded obediently.

"Why would they be after a little kitten?" EeDeChi asked, clearly confused.

"This isn't a little kitten—it's a fat cat," Barrett corrected EeDeChi's mistake.

He gently placed the fat cat on the bed. Lying on its back, the cat stared at them with wide, round black eyes, its plump belly spread out like a cat pancake, wearing an utterly harmless expression.

"If it could talk, it would tell us why the lord is chasing it down," Barrett said, "but all it can do is meow."

The cat seemed to understand Barrett's words. It flipped over, stood up, and jumped off the bed with surprising agility.

It scurried into the backpack Barrett had set on the floor, rummaging around a bit before emerging with a piece of parchment and a white quill clutched in its mouth.

"Is it… trying to write?" Barrett gasped in shock.

The cat nodded obediently, prompting Barrett to quickly retrieve an ink bottle from his spatial ring. He unscrewed the cap and set the bottle on the ground.

Using its front paw, the cat spread out the parchment and gently bit the middle of the quill. It dipped the tip into the ink, coating it in black, then rubbed the nib against the bottle's rim to scrape off any excess drops.

Both EeDeChi and Barrett were stunned. Its actions were so practiced that it was obvious this wasn't the first time it had written—not held a pen, but actually written by biting it.

With both front paws, the cat smoothed out the creases on the parchment, held the quill in its mouth, and began writing with meticulous care.

Once again, this magical cat surpassed EeDeChi's and Barrett's expectations. Its handwriting was neat and elegant, almost rivaling the printed calligraphy in books. Barrett silently admitted that his own handwriting could never compare to the cat's.

The writing it produced wasn't the "cat language" EeDeChi had guessed—it was the common language both adventurers knew well. Soon, a line of elegant cursive letters appeared on the parchment:

{Hello, I'm Cheeko, and I'm a cat.}

Barrett gazed at Cheeko's crystalline sky-blue body and was moved by the thought—it truly believed itself to be a cat. Crouching down, Barrett asked, "Why does the lord want to kill you?"

The cat's pointed ears twitched, and with a soft rustle, it began to write on the parchment:

{A long time ago, I was born, and my mother passed down her knowledge to me. I was very curious about the world outside and wanted to explore it. I left my mother's body, rolling off in one direction.

{In the forest, I encountered an orange creature, all furry and several times my size. It pounced on me and bit me.

EeDeChi and Barrett nodded in understanding—after all, Cheeko wasn't an ordinary cat; it was essentially a peculiar creature, much like a slime.

{Then, a little girl ran over. She was more than ten times my size. She cried at me, saying I had killed her cat. Her cry was loud and piercing. I was very frightened.}

"Then you also swallowed her?" Barrett asked, momentarily at a loss for words.

The cat shook its head and continued writing:

{She said I had to compensate her for her cat. My mother had taught me that "compensation" was paid with round metal coins—something called "money." I had no money, and I panicked.

{At that moment, I discovered my body was changing. I sprouted a head, limbs, a mouth, ears, and a tail—everything looked a lot like the cat I'd swallowed.

{The little girl said that if I didn't pay, it was okay, but I had to become her pet. I agreed, and she carried me back to the castle, becoming my owner.

{Her parents and siblings loved her dearly, but from birth, she had suffered from a strange illness. Her body was weak, and no magic or medicine could cure her.

{I sensed that my owner was under a curse, her life force being siphoned away, but I didn't know how to help. I could only play with her, talk with her, and do my best to bring her joy. Even writing was something she had taught me.}

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{Because the owner was sick and had difficulty moving, she could only stay near the castle—and she had grown tired of every corner of it. To lift her spirits, I shared all the knowledge passed down from my mother with her.}

{The world outside was vast and beautiful, and both the owner and I longed to see it. Once, the two of us snuck out together, but we were quickly caught by the servants. From then on, she was kept under strict watch, confined to the castle as she convalesced…}

The cat's narration flowed like a babbling brook. EeDeChi couldn't help but imagine a little girl in a dress sitting on stone steps bathed in the soft glow of the setting sun, with petals scattered all over.

The well-behaved cat lay beside her, holding a quill in its mouth as it scribbled on a pale yellow piece of parchment. The little mistress tilted her head, speaking to the cat, and it replied with neatly written words on the parchment.

"Isn't that heartwarming?" EeDeChi murmured softly.

{But later,}

The cat's head drooped, and the quill's tip began to tremble slightly.

{The owner grew weaker, and her condition never improved. That day, she passed away.}

The cat released the quill from its mouth, and the delicate feathered pen fell silently to the ground—just like the sorrowful ending it had described about its little mistress. It crouched down, resting its head on its two front paws, its body trembling softly as if in tears.

EeDeChi knelt down and gently stroked the cat's head in comfort.

The cat named Cheeko picked up the quill once more, dipped it in ink, gathered its resolve, and continued writing. This time, its strokes were forceful, each line laden with raw anger.

{The last healer for the owner was a highly respected master potion-maker. The owner's father had summoned him, and he vowed that he could cure her illness. But in reality, he was utterly powerless and failed to save her life.}

{His vow shattered, yet to salvage his own ugly reputation, he actually pinned the blame on me!}

Cheeko used an exclamation mark for the first time, slashing the quill forcefully across the parchment, their anger unmistakably overflowing.

{He concocted a seemingly well-reasoned lie, claiming that I had devoured the owner's life force, and that it was because she was with me every moment that she fell into Death's embrace.}

{But in reality, I can only consume physical entities—I cannot devour intangible life force. Moreover, under the owner's guidance, apart from feasting on crystals, I haven't eaten anything else for a long time.}

{However, people would rather trust a potion master with a long beard than trust a cat that can write.}

{I almost got killed, fled from the castle with nowhere to go, so I decided to leave and travel.}

{To prevent the spread of the owner's illness, the mage suggested that she be cremated. I suddenly remembered that, while she was alive, the owner had always longed to explore the world beyond the castle.}

{So, before the owner's ashes were buried, I stole the urn, allowing me to take her with me as I journeyed across the vast world.}

"That's wonderful." Even Barrett felt a strange sense of romance.

A cat, for the sake of the owner's lifelong wish, held her ashes close and resolutely set off to travel.

Cheeko's lifespan is nearly endless—they can sit on the grasslands watching the twinkling stars overhead, ride a stormy sea vessel and witness the ebb and flow of the tides, marvel at the dazzling auroras in the far north, and, atop high mountains, gaze at the world's fireworks.

"If you've already gone traveling, why are you still here?" EeDeChi asked, looking down at the writing cat.

Cheeko flattened its ears back, as if it had done something terribly wrong. Clutching the quill in its mouth, it wrote:

{The owner's urn was too big for me to carry, so I tucked it inside my body. The next day, when I woke up, I discovered that the urn... had been digested by me...}

EeDeChi and Barrett exchanged glances, stunned by the unexpected outcome. Perhaps even Cheeko had forgotten that, at its core, it wasn't a cat at all but a Slime-like creature capable of devouring anything it can envelop.

With its head hanging low and a dejected look on its face, Cheeko continued writing:

{I made a huge mistake. I ran back to the castle, and all that remained to hold the owner's memory were her belongings. The owner's parents never cleaned her room, keeping it just as it was, so I often snuck back to hide in there.

{The owner's parents despised me—every time I showed up, they wanted to kill me...}

EeDeChi and Barrett were at a loss for words. Cheeko had stolen the lord's daughter's urn and had even accidentally swallowed it... No wonder the lord wanted to kill it.

The cat continued writing:

{Later, I realized that my owner's urn had merged with my body, and she now lives in my heart. At a banquet, I overheard that you were world travelers—may I join you on your journey?}

It released the quill, sat obediently, and looked up at EeDeChi and Barrett with eyes like black jewels, brimming with hope.

"Hold on, you keep sneaking into the owner's room just to remember her," Barrett said, glancing around at the room with its feminine decor and the girl-favorite books on the shelves. "This room we're staying in—could it be the bedroom that the lord's daughter once occupied?"

{Yes.} Cheeko wrote truthfully.

"That's outrageous!" EeDeChi exclaimed in frustration. "What kind of parents would let guests stay in their daughter's room from when she was alive?"

"They're using us." Barrett paused for a moment before continuing, "The lord knew Cheeko would inevitably dash into his daughter's bedroom, so he arranged for us to stay here. He's counting on us to catch Cheeko."

EeDeChi nodded in agreement. The lord's plan was truly ingenious—he turned out to be quite cunning, far from the mild and simple demeanor he appeared to have.

"Knock, knock, knock." A knocking sound came from outside the room. EeDeChi frowned, shoved Cheeko into the backpack, and Barrett went to open the door.

When the door opened, sure enough, the lord Martin Smith, holding a lantern, was smiling at them. When he saw the glittering gemstone lantern in Barrett's hand, his eyes lit up with uncontrollable anticipation.

Martin asked, "Honored guests, have you seen a sky-blue cat? It is an evil cat cursed by magic that killed my little daughter and inflicted irreparable harm on my entire family! I must kill it to lift the curse."

Barrett exchanged a glance with EeDeChi, silently asking, "Are we supposed to hand Cheeko over?" After all, Cheeko had stolen the daughter's urn—a grave mistake indeed.

EeDeChi gave a barely noticeable shake of her head and whispered, so softly only Barrett could hear, "Let's take it with us."

Barrett said to the lord, "Sorry, we haven't seen any cat or anything like that. If there really was one, I promise it won't trouble your life again."

"Really?" Martin Smith's gaze lingered on EeDeChi for a full two seconds. He left hesitantly, his figure fading into the darkness.

In the darkness, he looked back, his eyes flashing with doubt and confusion—mixed with a hint of astonishment and anger...